2:00-2:15pm - Journalists don’t know best – creating a “mutualised” newspaper website - Alokh Jha
At the Guardian we are experimenting with several ways of embracing the more open and transparent way of doing journalism through “mutualisation” – the process of encouraging collaboration between journalist and reader. The approach recognises that organisations and individuals all now have the capability to be online publishers. Institutions, NGOs, governments, scientists, bloggers and many others can all contribute to stories in ways that were not possible with print. I will outline a few of these experiments including our efforts to cover science stories using live blogs and story trackers. These follow news events in real time over hours or days using a combination of traditional reporting plus curated (and linked) content from the wider web. I will also present our open news list which we set up in October 2011. This lays out publicly the selection of stories we plan to cover in advance (something that in the past many news editors would have regarded as virtually suicidal) and encourages feedback from readers.
2:15-2:30pm - Multimedia for Science Communicators: What do you want to learn? - Kelly Izlar and Jay Heinz
How about a solid introduction to video shooting and editing, graphics and animation, data visualization and posting to the web in five days? The Morehead Planetarium and Science Center is joining forces with the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to put together just such a program. But we need your suggestions. We¹ve held general multimedia how-to bootcamps for years, but we want to tweak this new one specifically for science communicators. So we¹re hosting an open discussion about what science communicators need to learn in order to transform them into multimedia ninjas. We are in pursuit of an effective, efficient program to help convey science in the digital age.
2:30-2:45pm - Break
2:45-3:00pm - North Carolina Health News - experiments in local media - Rose Hoban
This business model for journalism is changing. Traditional papers are laying off reporters, and journalism entrepreneurs are experimenting on the web. But the challenge is making a living! North Carolina Health News is a local news service dedicated to keeping people in North Carolina informed about health care in the state, and is looking to experiment. We're about to launch, and we'd love to hear what you have to say about the best local news sites you've encountered.
3:00-3:15pm - The MarcoPolo Project: funding Research with Blogs - Enrico Balli
In August and October 2011 the group of scientists, journalists and media representatives who participated in MarcoPolo2010 have traveled through Armenia and the Crimea to continue collecting data along the Silk Road. Just as they did on the previous expedition in 2010, the travelers have met representatives from the Terra Madre communities and collected DNA samples to explore the links between genetics, food preference and culinary traditions. http://www.marcopolo2011.it is the blog that could fund the research project, collecting money from many organizations and companies that were interested in sponsoring the dissemination project. The project will continue in 2012, completing the genetic path along the Silk Road.
3:15-3:30pm - Break
3:30-3:45pm - Developing a communication mix to build and engage an online community - Rob Thomas
Robert Thomas from the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, in Australia discusses the challenges of developing and maintaining an online presence in a media rich environment. Citing the public awareness and community engagement work of the National Enabling Technologies Strategy, examples will include the effective use of Facebook groups, YouTube, and Twitter to gain and maintain the public’s interest in science communication activities.
3:45-4:00pm - EVOLUTION:THIS VIEW OF LIFE, a Medium for Communicating Evolutionary Science to the General Public - Robert Kadar
Expanding evolutionary science beyond the biological sciences is one of the most important intellectual developments of the 21st century. EVOLUTION:THIS VIEW OF LIFE will catalyze the rate of the expansion at the high end of the intellectual spectrum in addition to serving as a medium of communication for the general public. The reason that the general public accepts physics and chemistry more than evolution is not because they are better supported by facts, but because they are so eminently useful in everyday life. Once evolution is portrayed as a practical toolkit for understanding and improving the human condition, it will be accepted just as easily. EVOLUTION:THIS VIEW OF LIFE will catalyze the transformation of public understanding about evolution, in the same way that EvoS (Evolutionary Studies Program) and the Evolution Institute are catalyzing the transformation for higher education and public policy formulation.
4:00-4:15pm - The Rise of Cinematic Journalism and The Atavist - Olivia Koski
The Atavist started out as an idea at a bar. A couple of friends wondered how to rejuvenate the tradition of great longform writing amidst the crisis in print media. So writer Evan Ratliff, web designer Jefferson Rabb, and editor Nicholas Thompson decided to make an app. A year later, the Atavist has published a dozen enhanced stories, sold on a variety of platforms. Fusing text with imagery, video, maps, audio and timelines, it's the invention of an entirely new form of storytelling. Come learn how the software behind the Atavist works, and join the digital longform revolution.
4:15-4:30pm - The new Science section at Huffington Post - Cara Santa Maria
Cara Santa Maria, Science Correspondent for The Huffington Post ("HuffPost"), will introduce the site's newest section: HuffPost Science, which combines comprehensive coverage of science with HuffPost's singular blend of real-time news and analysis, community engagement in real-time, and leading edge social tools. HuffPost Science is meant to encourage a deeper understanding of the natural world and how it works, covering scientists, academics and thinkers, the latest discoveries and approaches, and more. The site is meant as a dynamic hub for all things science, a starting point for conversations about what we know -- as well as what we don't know. HuffPost Science covers the breadth of what's happening in science, and explores every day phenomena through the lens of science, whether it's studying Mariano Rivera's wicked fastball, the latest developments in longevity, or the science of love, sex, and spirituality.
4:30-4:45pm - Break
4:45-5:00pm - Mathblogging.org - Peter Krautzberger
Mathblogging.org started out as a copy-cat of http://scienceblogging.com but with a focus on the small niche that is mathematical blogging. The project is now little over a year old and has slowly grown in terms of its database and functionality. In this process we moved away from mimicry to ideas that serve the mathematical community better, such as supporting other projects like mathoverflow.net.
Techno Blitz presentations will happen on Friday afternoon, from 2pm till 5pm in rooms 7 and 8 at McKimmon Center. This is a preliminary schedule.